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CUC cancels rolling outages
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Posted on Nov 14 2006
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. did not have to resort to rolling blackouts yesterday after it managed to meet the power demand on Saipan.
CUC spokesperson Pamela Mathis told [I]Saipan Tribune[/I] that Power Plants 1 and 2 in Lower Base were able to carry the power load yesterday.
“We were able to bring [engine] unit 8 in Power Plant I in Lower Base up to 7 megawatts; that has resulted in the stability today. And we actually have about two megawatts reserve even with the large businesses using the power,” Mathis said.
She said a small unit from Power Plant 2 was also brought into production.
“So we are able to produce almost exactly what the demand is, which means we’re right on the edge,” the CUC spokesman explained.
“There were no outages [yesterday] because we brought up the other units. However, it is a hot day; customers will typically use more air-conditioning and, of course, the heat of the power plants in hot weather can also force the generators to overheat,” she said.
Mathis said the combination of customers using a lot of air-conditioning, coupled with hot temperatures in the power plants, do not make for a very good scenario.
She underscored the need for customers to continue conserving energy.
“Conservation remains the key and any other malfunction would result of course in an emergency outage,” she said.
Mathis said CUC is still conducting repairs on Engine No. 1.
“On Saturday it was an electrical issue. On Monday it was a mechanical issue. And mechanical issues require considerable time to take lots of parts out of the unit and do more evaluating and then we will be able to make a determination about any parts required or how long it might take,” she added.
On Monday, CUC implemented again the rolling outages, affecting almost all areas on the island for several hours. This was due to ongoing repairs on Power Engine No. 1.
